Some Nuclear-arms Files Will Open For Public Use

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - WASHINGTON

The Energy Department will declassify volumes of formerly secret materials, including data on health questions related to the department's nuclear weapons program, a spokesman said Thursday.

The materials will be released within a couple of weeks as part of Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's moves to open more of the agency's business to the public, department spokesman Joey Lucas said.

He would not elaborate on the substance of the data, but said, ''It is a large volume of information.''

The documents include material on health, safety, environmental and weapons production issues that O'Leary's staff determined were not sensitive enough to be classified, according to another department official. The department has classified reams of material under the guise of protecting national security.

O'Leary already has made it easier for visitors to enter the department's headquarters without extensive security checks. She also has revised rules so that employees with high-level security clearances no longer have to wear their security badges at work.